Charles Carreon, the FunnyJunk lawyer who got into a spat with Oatmeal cartoonist Matt Inman and ended up suing Inman and a few charities, finally retracted his legal claims last week. But the retraction was provisional—"without prejudice" in legal parlance—and the suit can be brought again.

This weekend, it became clear that Camp Carreon isn't done with Inman yet—a new video depicts the cartoonist as a "Psycho Santa," while a new website suggests that Carreon might like to pursue litigation against those who engaged in a "Distributed Internet Reputational Attack" against him.

Rapeutation

When the controversy first began, Charles Carreon penned a little ditty about Inman that he called "Psycho Santa." It had lyrics like:

His prehistoric origin’s a mystery –
Did he escape from the lavatory?
Was he made by the Pentagon and NSA
A living drone that shoots mind rays,
Makin’ zombies of his followers –
Internet slaves!
He’s a psycho-Santa with a big bag of tricks,
Ringin’ a bell, and beggin’ for clicks,
Psycho Santa got a itty bitty stick,
Psycho Santa, don’t fall for his schtick.

Last week, Carreon's wife Tara wrote on her website that the song was being turned into a video. "We're coming onto your playground, evil children," she wrote. "We're going to make an intelligent video. It's not like there are very many out there. Thank God for the ones that are there. It'll probably be another day or two. There is so much you can do when you make a video."

And now it's here, with the new subtitle, "The Heroic Exploits of Matt Inman / A Work of Perpendicular Fact." (Readers can judge its intelligence for themselves.)

Did you think I wanted to become a deity? OMG, that is SO male! Spare me the maleness of this world. I'd get rid of you ALL if I could. I wouldn't leave a one of you. I told that to Charles the other night, and he got a hurt look on his face. He said, "You wouldn't even save the best man of all?" I said, "No fucking way. You're still a man." I said it with a lot of force so that that would be the end of it. But no, he's got to shout me down. He's always got a sneaky, smart-stupid comeback. He lives on the strategists. He says, "Well, there are no girls who are any better." Fucker, he won the argument this time. But he can't even begin to compare to my win rate. I've been winning my whole life. He's been winning to, but between the two of us, I have the upper hand. He had the upper hand during the first 30 years of our marriage. But I'm going to make sure we go out with a BANG!

And the Inman people wanted us to be "humble." Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho! Take your "humble" and shove it up your ass. You see that plaque above my door? That's the first thing people see when they come into my house. DO NOT FUCK WITH ME! You think Charles is tough? He would be NOTHING without me. I made the son of a famous CIA family a laughing-stock among other CIA. What the fuck happened to [columnist] Kathleen Parker after I hit her [with a digitally altered pornographic photo]? Another laughter-fest among her friends? She runs with a cruel crowd, like the Inman gang. They wouldn't hesitate at doing a female sacrifice just for fun, because the opportunity presented itself.

I'm working on taking down Carl Jung and the rest of the Nazis right now. I've got lots of ammunition pointed in their direction. They might be getting a little nervous about having their BIG SECRET come out, which Houston Stewart Chamberlain so foolishly gave me. It's not allowed to be spoken, only read. But people can't help but crow! I heard that Gyatrul Rinpoche told all my fellow Buddhists that I was like a general, leading an army. That's pretty admiring. But I really don't think that I deserve it. Can I send it back to him?

In any event, the salient point here isn't that some Web video got made, but that it's up on a site called Rapeutation.com. The site, apparently set up just for the video, suggests that Internet users are (or have been) engaged in a coordinated assault on Carreon's reputation. It also suggests that Carreon was targeted by a "Distributed Internet Reputation Attack (DIRA)" in which "large numbers of both human and digital Internet zombies [were used] to proliferate unmanageable quantities of disparaging information in an effort to alter the conduct of the individual or entity."

The site proposes a new tort for DIRA—that is, a new sort of Internet defamation lawsuit that could be brought by aggrieved parties. (Carreon apparently feels quite aggrieved; Rapeutation's tagline is: "A Distributed Internet Reputation Attack or, What You're Left With After You've Suffered One.")

"The frequency of DIRAs makes it apparent that old laws concerning defamation need reforming to take account of the pernicious effects of allowing Internet mobs to run riot, placing meaningful limits on what is fair play in the realm of social media," says the anonymous author of this section.

Taken together, none of this sounds like Carreon and his allies are really done with Matt Inman and the "cyber-vandals" who have plagued them for the last few weeks. The real question is whether that anger takes the form of amateur videos and online ranting—or whether it leads back to court.

I can't tell you how badly I want these articles to stop. It's not news and it's definitely not anything we should be giving light to. This guy is an asshat and so is his wife. Just reading his "ditty" almost makes me feel bad, because it's like we're secretly mocking a retard. No one can possibly take this guy or his wife as serious, so why bother give it any press? We all know Inman did a good thing with his charity fundraiser, but there isn't anymore that can come out of this. And even if another trial comes out of it, a little results snippet article after the trial will suffice.

I haven't finished getting through the comments yet, so someone may have already addressed this. This is the reason why this article needed to be written:

Quote:

From the Article:"The frequency of DIRAs makes it apparent that old laws concerning defamation need reforming to take account of the pernicious effects of allowing Internet mobs to run riot, placing meaningful limits on what is fair play in the realm of social media," says the anonymous author of this section.

Emphasis mine.

That section right there highlights the true danger being issued forth from the Carreons and their buddies (if indeed they have any and are not doing all this themselves). That snippet there is a thinly-veiled threat on First Amendment rights on the Internet. Charles Carreon already set himself up as being pro-censorship on the Internet in his lambasting the audacity of someone criticizing (regardless on how immature the manner of criticism was) him or his clients.

What it looks like could be shaping up is that the dismissal of the previous case brought by Charles Carreon may now be a precursor to an actual attack on Internet free speech. This is something to be concerned about, and it was right to be presented in an article.

Batshit crazy or no for either Carreon, this could wind up impacting all of us.

My criticism of Carreon isn't the product of some "Distributed Internet Reputation Attack.", it's my personal feeling about how much of a jerk he is. I came to that conclusion based solely on the evidence, I have not been swayed by other people nor controlled by some shadowy conspiracy.

This is clearly a publicity stunt and Ars fell for it hook line and sinker. Please stop reporting on them. As others have said, this is no longer news worthy. If you continue covering these ass hats, you are complicit in their plans for 15 minutes of fame.

Rest assured you will not get any more hits for these stories from me.

Is is just me, or would this be the perfect time for the Internet to collectively start ignoring the Carreons? I'll start by not bothering to give their new video a hit. Of course, the 'net being what it is, I know this is just wishful thinking. But wouldn't it be great? They'd keep ranting and raving for a good long time among the silence, and just think how that would make them look to disinterested third parties. Like, say, many of their future potential clients.

This is clearly a publicity stunt and Ars fell for it hook line and sinker. Please stop reporting on them. As others have said, this is no longer news worthy. If you continue covering these ass hats, you are complicit in their plans for 15 minutes of fame.

Rest assured you will not get any more hits for these stories from me.

A publicity stunt would imply they were sane and clever of rational thought. They have a track record going back years of online bullying and crazy comments. I think Tara in particular is truly that unhinged.

The main thing here that I would counter you with is: Charles Carreon is (for now) a licensed lawyer. Last I checked, lawyers deal almost exclusively in courts (part of the government) and laws (set by the government). If he were a bagger at a grocery store and writing all this stuff, then I'd be far less worried about it all. As it is, he has threatened vexatious litigation of the censorious nature before, and he appears to be doing so again. This means government involvement (as courts are a branch of the government). That means it is a First Amendment concern.

This is clearly a publicity stunt and Ars fell for it hook line and sinker. Please stop reporting on them. As others have said, this is no longer news worthy. If you continue covering these ass hats, you are complicit in their plans for 15 minutes of fame.

Rest assured you will not get any more hits for these stories from me.

These guys are using litigation to stifle criticism, which is illegal censorship worthy of calling out publicly - say on a news blog that reports on censorship, perhaps. Sorry you have no understanding of context or relevance to fall back on in these strange, ambiguous times.

The Carreons are a wild bunch, certainly able to garner headlines and pageviews, but in this case, I feel somehow less informed for the reading - Perhaps it's the phrase 'rapeutation', or the increasingly gleeful coverage Ars is providing of the entire, sad story. Moreso, I feel like Ars is doing something vaguely distasteful in continuing to cover the Carreon story with such depth and... glee?

Ars users come to the site, yes, to read some salacious content, from the Kim Dotcom saga to the Oatmeal-fundraising affair, but there is always an informative takeaway from every story on the site. There seem to be fewer and fewer of those with the Carreons, and more of a gleeful tone in covering their downfall. Admittedly, it was good journalism to let Carreon tell his side of the story (Or perhaps feed him rope...) but this story seems less to be about journalistic integrity than it does tabloid journalism.

Is there nowhere that the resources devoted to following this story could be redirected?

Equating criticism with rape? I liked the attention you gave this (saga) initially, but I suggest you make this the last small bit of light that you shine on these people. It seems fairly obvious at this point that this whole thing is/was designed to generate a lot of publicity for two very - VERY - small individuals.

Where are the drones bearing laser guided bombs when you really need them?

We're sorry but all drones are currently busy dealing other justice. The average wait time for justice is NB years where N is the number of nutjobs on the planet and B is the time it takes to build a laser guided bomb. Your call will be handled in the order in which it was received.

"Last week, Carreon's wife Tara wrote on her website that the song was being turned into a video. "We're coming onto your playground, evil children," she wrote. "We're going to make an intelligent video. It's not like there are very many out there. Thank God for the ones that are there. It'll probably be another day or two. There is so much you can do when you make a video.""

Intelligent Video.... I think the wrong link is posted... that was pure dribble..

Just wow. Reading his wife's posts here, on the Nader library and even responses on online newspaper sites, she's f*'ing nuts. Not like the scary kind of nuts, more like just crazy mental institution kind of nuts. Making her husband look worse half the time.

I do have to say they both are famous now, though after how they've handled this whole situation, so many bad calls, seemingly just to get noticed, I would never hire Carreon as a lawyer. Doesn't make good calls and seems willing to sacrifice his client's dignity and case (in this case, funnyjunk) just to get his name out there a bit more. Heck, I wonder if FunnyJunk actually could sue Carreon. His antics have ruined any reputation they had.

Also, not clicking through to their website to view the video. May be amusing or not, dunno, but don't want to contribute to their site traffic, particularly if they have any ads up. Doing crazy shit then making a site with ads is a awesome way to make money though.

Honestly, don't give these nutjobs any more press. I really don't care if they make a whole bunch of websites or music videos. Only report on them if they try stupid legal shenanigans that could have far reaching impact. Otherwise you are just feeding their ego, and I'm quite done with that.

Won't go to site. Won't watch video.Won't comment or click on another article about them.

I can't tell you how badly I want these articles to stop. It's not news and it's definitely not anything we should be giving light to. This guy is an asshat and so is his wife. Just reading his "ditty" almost makes me feel bad, because it's like we're secretly mocking a retard. No one can possibly take this guy or his wife as serious, so why bother give it any press? We all know Inman did a good thing with his charity fundraiser, but there isn't anymore that can come out of this. And even if another trial comes out of it, a little results snippet article after the trial will suffice.

I completely agree with you. Carreon and his wife are both seriously disturbed. Criticism is one thing, but I find something malicious in the constant and detailed coverage of this story. It's time that we take the high-road and leave them alone.

The site proposes a new tort for DIRA—that is, a new sort of Internet defamation lawsuit that could be brought by aggrieved parties. (Carreon apparently feels quite aggrieved; Rapeutation's tagline is: "A Distributed Internet Reputation Attack or, What You're Left With After You've Suffered One.")

I believe many people can also feel aggrieved by rapeutation.com contents and use this very proposition to sue the couple.

Does this guy really think that he received so much hate because people are willing to do whatever Matt Inman tells them to do? Is he that delusional?

He was the bad guy here! He is trying to suppress constitutionally protected speech with the threat of lawsuits. He is everything the Internet hates and he brought it ALL on himself through his own actions. This guy is a coward, in every meaning of the word.

I honestly don't know what to comment. I'm speechless after reading that post, but I'm glad too. Any lawmaker with half a brain will stay FAR FAR AWAY from these people. Very slim chance that they can find one who'll try to make an Anti-DIRA bill.